The Cuban telecommunications framework is defined by the prohibition of private provision of internet and mobile services and by the concentration of control in the state-owned operator Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A. (ETECSA), through which all internet access is channelled and whose subsidiary Cubacel serves as the sole mobile provider. This structure is legally reinforced by Art. 1 of Decree No. 124/2025, which grants ETECSA an administrative concession to provide public telecommunications services nationwide, while Art. 3 defines the scope of those services to include basic telephony, signal-carrying services, data transmission, and terrestrial mobile cellular telecommunications, and Art. 4.1 establishes an exclusivity period extending until 2036. In parallel, the Annex of Decree No. 107, specifically activities 65 and 66, prohibits private micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, non-agricultural cooperatives, and self-employed workers from providing public internet access or related services.

The government holds all the shares in Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A. (ETECSA), the sole telecommunications operator in Cuba, responsible for the provision of fixed, mobile, data, and internet services. The "Unnumbered Agreement of 2011 of the Council of Ministers" announced that the government had acquired full ownership of the company. Prior to this, the private firm Telecom Italia held a 27% stake in ETECSA, which was purchased by the state‑owned enterprise Rafin S.A. Since that transaction, the telecommunications company has been entirely owned by six Cuban state entities.

Cuba does not mandate functional or accounting separation for operators with significant market power (SMP) in the telecom market.

Art. 25 of Decree-Law No. 35 establishes that "public telecommunications services have priority over private telecommunications services" explicitly imposing, within a legal framework, discrimination against foreign companies in favour of the state ones. The Cuban telecommunications framework is defined by the prohibition of private provision of internet and mobile services and by the concentration of control in the state-owned operator Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A. (ETECSA), through which all internet access is channelled and whose subsidiary Cubacel serves as the sole mobile provider. This structure is legally reinforced by Art. 1 of Decree No. 124/2025, which grants ETECSA an administrative concession to provide public telecommunications services nationwide, while Art. 3 defines the scope of those services to include basic telephony, signal-carrying services, data transmission, and terrestrial mobile cellular telecommunications, and Art. 4.1 establishes an exclusivity period extending until 2036. In parallel, the Annex of Decree No. 107, specifically activities 65 and 66, prohibits private micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, non-agricultural cooperatives, and self-employed workers from providing public internet access or related services.

Cuba is not a party to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), nor does it have observer status.

Cuba has not appended the World Trade Organization (WTO) Telecom Reference Paper to its schedule of commitments.

The Cuban telecommunications framework is defined by the prohibition of private provision of internet and mobile services and by the concentration of control in the state-owned operator Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A. (ETECSA), through which all internet access is channelled and whose subsidiary Cubacel serves as the sole mobile provider. This structure is legally reinforced by Art. 1 of Decree No. 124/2025, which grants ETECSA an administrative concession to provide public telecommunications services nationwide, while Art. 3 defines the scope of those services to include basic telephony, signal-carrying services, data transmission, and terrestrial mobile cellular telecommunications, and Art. 4.1 establishes an exclusivity period extending until 2036. In parallel, the Annex of Decree No. 107, specifically activities 65 and 66, prohibits private micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, non-agricultural cooperatives, and self-employed workers from providing public internet access or related services.

Cuba does not have a telecommunications authority whose decision‑making processes are fully independent from the government. In fact, no separate telecommunications regulator exists. Art. 2 of Decree‑Law No. 308 of 2013 states that the Ministry of Communications is the body responsible for proposing, and once approved, directing and supervising State and governmental policy for the country’s unified communications system. This system includes telecommunications, information technology, radiocommunications, postal services, communications‑related automation, radio‑spectrum management, and the corresponding technical and support functions.

Although Law 118 on foreign investment does not restrict investments in the online commerce sector, the state company CIMEX, with its company Tuenvio.cu, is the only platform that offers online purchases in Cuba.

Art. 68.f of Decree‑Law No. 370/2018 stipulates that hosting a website on servers located in a foreign country, except where such hosting functions solely as a mirror or replica of the primary website situated on servers within national territory, constitutes a violation related to ICT. Similarly, Art. 82 of Decree No. 360/2019 provides that when, due to connectivity requirements or other considerations, an entity must host a website on servers outside the country, this may only be undertaken as a mirror or replica of the principal website hosted on servers in Cuba. It further requires the adoption of all necessary measures to guarantee the security of the website, particularly during the process of updating information. In addition, Art. 83 establishes that an entity’s network servers intended to facilitate external access and those intended for internal use must be installed in distinct areas of the network in order to prevent any connection between them.

Cuba is not a signatory of the 1996 World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA) nor the 2015 expansion (ITA II).

It is reported that Cuban institutions generally do not publish public procurement information and that access to procurement data remains limited. Institutional transparency is minimal, with limited oversight mechanisms in areas such as public budgets and procurement. Grand corruption risks, although less visible, are also reportedly present in sectors involving high-value state assets, including public procurement.

Pursuant to Art. 72 of SUTEL’s End-User Protection Scheme Regulations (RPUF), SUTEL must make available to end-users and operators/providers a platform for the registration and updating of information concerning prepaid end-users, known as the Prepaid Register. This platform enables the verification of the identity of prepaid service users before they are allowed to make calls other than those required to complete the registration process.
Before making calls outside the registration platform, prepaid end-users must register, at a minimum, their assigned telephone number and the following information:
- full name;
- valid identity card, equivalent identification document or, in the case of foreign nationals, passport;
- place of residence; and
- email address.
For legal entities, registration must include the legal registration number and the full name or business name, together with the details of the legal representative or authorised agent. In addition, Art. 11.27 of the Act requires telecommunications operators and service providers to verify the authenticity of customers’ identification details and supporting documents, and to duly record this information at the time of subscription or service provision.
This regime is further complemented by the General Regulations for Data Update of Prepayment Mobile Users, which remain in force as the implementing rules for the prepaid-user registration and data-update mechanism originally established under the 2010 Regulation on the Regime for the Protection of the End User of Telecommunications Services, now repealed and replaced by the RPUF. Under these implementing regulations, users of prepaid mobile subscriptions must validate their identity, while mobile network operators must collect and record users’ personal information and proof-of-identity documentation. It has also been reported that operators may be required to share, upon request, full or partial prepaid-user registration profiles with the government.